On the evening of Feb. 20, members of the Veterans of Foreign Wars Post and Auxiliary, along with scholarship winners and families from both the Voice of Democracy and Patriots Pen, gathered to listen to the winning essays.
First-place winner for the Voice of Democracy was Hannah Englemann of Volga. She read her essay about What Are the Greatest Attributes of Our Democracy. She received a check for $200 for her essay. The Voice of Democracy program is for ninth through 12th grade students.
The winning essay for the Patriots Pen program was written by Awurama Dwomoh of Brookings Mickelson Middle School.
The topic that Dwomoh wrote on was How Are You Inspired by America. She received a check for $100. Any student in sixth through eighth grade is eligible to enter the Patriots Pen Scholarship program.
Each of the programs are available from the start of the school year in the fall to Oct. 31. Local entries are judged and sent on to the district for judging.
The five South Dakota District winners then vie for the South Dakota winning essay that is entered into the National Scholarship program. The national winner of the Voice of Democracy wins a $30,000 scholarship and the Patriots Pen national winner receives $5,000.
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